More of Benedict

Even though this little boy is #3 in the family, so far, there are probably more pictures of him than either of the other two kids. He is too handsome, I can't help but take pictures of him.

Love the bonnet

Let's just say that during the winter months while Mom was busy with her baby brother, Faustina got some serious video time with "Little House on the Prairie". Can we go back in time, please?, so that everyone can dress like this again?!

3 months

My little baby.

And my little man.

He is so handsome and smiley when he is awake.

And he is just the cutest during his sweet slumber.

102.9

One of my favorite things is driving in the springtime with the windows rolled down and listening to the radio blasting. I love it, I always have ever since I learned to drive (the only thing that could make it better is driving a smaller car with a stick shift instead of a 'soccer mom' minivan!).


And my newest love?...the radio station 102.9 - country music!

It is awesome.

I don't know what was wrong with me, but I never liked it in the past. I have a close college friend and she always loved it and I just could not understand it. The twangy voices, the cliche' lyrics, cheesy story lines - really, come on.

And now - I love it. It took all the other junky radio stations to force me to revisit trying to like country music. And now I am hooked. Who wouldn't want to hear about how much a man loves 'his woman', hearing about a sitting around drinking a 24 pack in the fields and writing love songs, going on the road for a trip on the motorcycle, and the list is endless - the lyrics actually do have a story behind them, instead of trashy ghetto lyrics like many songs on other stations.

Anyway, I am coming out of the car lately a newly inspired woman with a zeal for life with the unbelievably warm March weather combined with country music!

Up north - in North Dakota

On Friday we headed up to North Dakota to visit my 91 year old Grandmother. First, we went to the Saunders' farm in Cayuga, ND. This is the farm that my Grandpa Chic bought and built a house on and then my Mom's brother Mark and his wife, Mary, bought it from them. It is the house that my Mom grew up in and I have many many memories of going there for family gatherings and spending lots of time with all my girl cousins when I was growing up.

As you can see - Jude was in tractor heaven. He really was obsessed. He couldn't stop talking about them, wanting to play on them, and giving us 'thumbs-up' while being around them.

I think, maybe, Jude was suppose to be born on a farm.

Mark took him on a motorcycle ride which Jude thoroughly enjoyed. He looks like a natural.

Mark told us that this calf was only 3 hours old. He has about 20 cows on the farm now. Many of them are currently pregnant.

Faustina quickly became very attached to Aunt Mary. Aunt Mary knows how to talk to little girls and she knows what they like! When Mary asked Faustina if she wanted to walk up to the playground, Faustina informed me that she was going alone with Mary and I could not come along. She wanted to talk to Mary alone.

When the sun went down, Uncle Mark made a huge bonfire for everyone to watch. The kids were a little freaked out when it blazed up, but they soon got over it.


Jude was so tired. It was pretty funny to watch the expressions on his face as he sat there alone. He kept getting up and moving his chair away from everyone. It looked like he should have had a 6 pack sitting next to him.

Jude was up early and Mary told me the only thing that would come out of his mouth as she fed him cereal was 'tractor and truck' probably hundreds of times. So Mark and Mary took him out in his pajamas to check things out again.



Faustina would not be left behind.


We had a great time with Great Grandma Saunders. She is as spunky as ever and was excited to see Mike and I, but especially her 'greats' (great grandchildren) as she calls them. She was quite proud to show them off to all the people she lived with. I don't think our three kids have ever received as must attention as when we went to Riverview this weekend! We had a lovely time chatting with Grandma, going swimming in her pool, eating meals with her, seeing her apartment, going to the St. Patty's day dance, and going to Mass in the morning with her. We had brunch with her friend 'Big Al' who is just about the nicest guy you'll ever meet. He has 13 children; Grandma calls him her 'prayer buddy'. Big Al has 2 sons who are priests and his oldest daughter is a Sister. Grandma seems to know just about everyone who lives in Riverview and she seems very happy.

I was mad at myself because I forgot the camera recharger. We didn't realize this until the battery was on empty, so we only were able to capture a few pictures with Grandma Saunders.
Here we are in Grandma's apartment filled with pictures and memories.

Here Grandma, Debbie, Cecelia Flood (my cousin's daughter) and Faustina are dancing up a storm. Debbie stopped by to say 'hi'; since Dorothy just had a little boy (Simon!) last week, Debbie was helping out by taking Cecelia for a bit. Grandma has still got her groove on. She was on the dance floor almost the whole time! She has always loved dancing so much.

Overall, it was a very fun weekend. One highlight for me was simply being with my Mom's family - people she looks like and sometimes could sound like, people who knew her well and appreciate talking about her, remembering her and honoring her. Seeing the farm, and spending time with relatives certainly gives a bigger picture of the family tree - where people came from and who people are now. We visited the Saunders about a year ago in February and I was shocked at all the memories I had of Cayuga, Grandma and Grandpa, the farm and all the relatives - all the memories flooded back. It is strange how that seems to be happening more and more as the years go on. I kind of like that.

A Home

Note: this is not a home that we bought! Hahahah. Just a generic picture for the post. :)

Trying to figure out what to do about our home has been consuming a lot of our time and energy lately.

We have kept an eye out for possibilities of homes to move to for awhile now. When Faustina was born in '08, we spent some time in the fall looking at houses knowing that our family would grow and we would want a different place at some point.

Since Benedict was born, we are beginning to feel the squeeze a bit.

Don't get me wrong, we are fine here and could make it work for quite a bit longer - and maybe we will. I keep thinking to myself, "Jesus was born in a stable!" "Mother Teresa did not have any sort of luxury home!" But at the same time, I know our family will have more than what the Holy family lived in or Mother Teresa given well...things just are not like that now!

We are in the middle of discernment, and it is kind of fun to think in 10 years the story we'll have to tell. At this point, I am looking online often and in the past 3 months we have probably looked at 50-75 houses in person!

To get all philosophical for a moment, it is fascinating to think of what a home means to people. And now having our own family, it is interesting looking at all these different homes and contemplating what kind of home we want to make for our children. What are we willing to give up of our desires and what is a 'must'? As a nerdy classics major I think of Homer's figure Odysseus and what his travels home meant to him. He longed day and night to be home with his wife, Penelope and son, Telemakhos; he endured trial after trial and conquered temptations in order to reach home. I think of the book "Jayber Crow" by Wendell Berry and what living in a small town and owning his own home as a single man meant to him. A home is part of a person's identity. Fascinating. Looking at pictures of families, most of them are in the home. When I think of people and their family, often times I picture them in their homes. It is just the way it is, I guess.

Time will tell what is in store for us. We are contemplating getting a pod to clear our own house out in order to get ready for the market. We are looking at houses and perhaps hoping for a contingency in order to sell our home. We are thinking of adding on a second story to our own home since we like it and our location so much. Who knows. But whatever does happen, I hope it is done and we don't have to ever think about moving again!

Thankfully, family and people are the main component of what makes a home. And we really do love our current home; it would be very sad to think of actually leaving this place!

My little elf babe

Lenten readings

My 2 highlights during this Lenten season have been going to Stations of the Cross at St. Agnes on Fridays and 2 books about men of incredible faith.

Going to Stations of the Cross at St. Agnes this year and hearing the reflections and seeing the images for each station of what Jesus endured and suffered for me has brought me to a new level of heart ache for my own sins. The reflections are beautiful as they exhort a person to never separate himself from the love of Jesus again by grievous sin.

My other highlight has been reading Father Gereon Goldmann's "The Shadow of His Wings" and reflecting on the book "He Leadth Me" by Walter Ciszek. Both of these men are saints, I really believe. They tell their stories and their faith is absolutely astounding. They both lived during WWII and endured unbelievable conditions including solitary confinement, POW camps, personal rejection and persecution for their catholic faith. They way their write their accounts is little episode after episode of how God works in their lives. It is riveting and jolting at how the Holy Spirit guides them and their faith holds them high in every situation they find themselves.

As I was talking to Mike the other night about "In the Shadow of His Wings" Mike was telling me about an article he read by Schall entitled "The Catholic Mind". Mike was explaining Schall's premise of how every situation in our life is a prototype of the Garden of Eden story. We are in the Garden with the Lord, he instructs us and tells us to keep his commandments, we have a choice to make, and the choice end up in the appropriate consequence - good or bad. That episode is done, and then it happens all over again. Over and over and over again. There are different people involved in each story, different details, different times etc - but the model is the same. Fascinating, and it really does make sense as I apply it to these two books and men of great faith.

Rewinding to Christmas

A few weeks after Christmas, a good friend asked if we got a picture of Benedict bringing him home in his Christmas stocking. What a great idea! - he IS our Christmas baby after all and the best Christmas present imaginable. But, I just never got around to it.

So, last week I decided to still get that picture since he is still small enough. And now he is smiling in it too - I love it.

Pretty in pink

Faustina loves everything pink. She loves clothes. She loves talking about fashion and complimenting other people's fashion. I put on my red shoes yesterday and she said, "Oh, I just love your fancy red shoes, Mom!".

This morning she was asking me questions for almost 20 minutes (that is a long time) about our wedding wondering what my dress looked like, what food was there, what people were there and who was married at our wedding. She asked what Dad wore and she asked where we got married. My goodness she asks hundreds of questions! Too many for my morning mind. She insisted that she is marrying Jude, but she has to wait until he gets up from his nap.

Yesterday a friend let her borrow a pink fluffy 'ball gown dress' which she is loving to pieces. This afternoon someone is taking her to pick out an Easter dress and she is being extra good in order to keep that privilege. She is dancing around the house in this pink dress... and I'm not looking forward to giving it back to its owner.

'Cado' boy learning to smile

Jude loves avocado. One whole avocado was his breakfast this morning. His new obsession is cameras (of course, all kids love mom and dad's camera). But Jude wanted me to take pictures of him this morning. "Take picture of me, Momma!" So a photo shoot began and as I told him to smile, it took him many tries to get it right.

Mom, "Smile, Jude!"

"Open your eyes, Jude!"

"Close your mouth, Jude!"

Jude trying to figure what exactly to do. Me, "Jude, just smile nicely!"

There we go.